Please hear me out before you call me mean and vile names, if I am your brother, please rebuke me in love – only show me from the Scriptures where I err, and I will recant.

1. As the serpent whispered to Eve in the Garden of Eden, "Yea, hath God said?" (Gen. 3:1) has he not continued to the same throughout history, causing men to doubt God’s Word and thus to fall?

2. Is there a need today for the devil to instigate the confiscation of Bibles and burnings at the stake, when He can accomplish his age-old purpose just as well by tooting several horns of a different tone, thereby causing confusion, doubt and unbelief?

3 Does it not seem that the same spirit that was among the Papacy in William Tyndale’s day -- that the common man could not rightly interpret the scriptures apart from the Priesthood -- is among many "Protestants" today who claim that the common...layman" in the pew cannot rightly understand the Scriptures except he have the proper interpretation from the "learned" Greek and Hebrew "scholars"?

4. Should the Bible then be removed from the layman, lest he, in his ignorance pervert its proper understanding?

5. Is a preacher who constantly gives "more correct renderings of the text" helping to establish in the hearts of his hearers faith in the Holy Scriptures, or is he seeking to establish their faith in him?

6. What happened to a prophet in the Old Testament who altered or edited the words God gave him to speak to the people?

7. Is it sufficient for churches, mission boards and other organizations to revel in their strong affirmation of the inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of the original autographs? To what credit is buried faith?

8. Is Preservation mystical (somewhere out there) or actual (tangible)?

9. Do believers trust in the ability of man or the promises of God? Is anything too hard for the Lord?

10. Would a heathen unbeliever be more or less inclined to put his faith and confidence in the message of a book that you claim to be from God, and able to change lives, comfort souls and shake empires, but has notes at the bottom as to take accuracy, certainty and reliability of the text?

11. Exactly how many verses can be skipped by the preacher as not being in the "originals" before his simple congregation begins to wonder what is?

12. Is Christian faith based upon human scholarship?

13. Is faith conditioned by the number of existing manuscripts available to support (!) scripture?

14. Should a reference to I John 5:7 be discovered tomorrow in an ancient archaeological dig, would Bible editors evidence a greater or a lesser testimony of their faith to unbelievers?

15. Should believers’ faith in God’s preserved Word be conditioned by modern textual critics who must always leave room to be corrected by an earlier manuscript dug up out of the dust, and who must constantly revise their ever-changing theories?

16. Can linguists -- separated by time, distance and culture --understand a language of a society better than the people of that society?

17. Is it a legitimate and intelligent argument to affirm that the oldest existing manuscripts are the best, when books that are least used last the longest, and books valued the most are used the most?

18. If a little child and a learned scholar were to read the same passage of Scripture, which one, would be more prone to believe it, and which one would be more prone to doubt it?

Which kind of faith does the Bible commend?

19. Have textual critics -- who teach that exact wording is superior to paraphrase -- given a consistent sound to recommend a wide number of translations -- which naturally results in paraphrased thought?

20. Exactly how many ways can the same statement be said the best?

21. If, as some affirm, "we are closer to the originals today than Christians have ever been throughout Church History," does Christianity evidence any improvement as a result? If not, what need or profit is there in "getting back to the originals"?

22. Do modern Bible translators evidence a deep love and conviction for God’s truth to the extent that they are willing to lose health, property and reputation just as Bible translators have done throughout Church History?

23. Do modern Bible translators risk their lives to get their "good news" to savages living in darkness who have never had even one version of the Bible?

24. Would these translators make an exception, or hold these savages liable to the same copyright laws -- "This text...may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of...verses without express written permission from..."?

25. Can you picture a man being burned at the stake with an NIV tied around his neck?

26. Which versions do Liberals use? Which do they avoid? Why?

27. Is it a sacrificial calling or a lucrative profession to come out with another Bible version today?

28. At what point does a person or people shelve one book for another of the same name?

29. Exactly how much of the King James Version should be corrected before it can be safe for a layman not to err in affirming it?

30. If, as some Fundamentalists maintain, "there is only about one-half of a page of disputed differences or variations in the entire King James Version, and none affecting doctrine", why, I ask, WHY do they make such a big deal about what they call insignificant, and produce doubts in the hearts of the simple? Is THAT insignificant?

31. Does I John 5:7 -- the strongest verse in the Bible on the Trinity -- I ask, does that verse affect Doctrine? How about John 3:13b? Etc.

32. Is the devil known to add more of the truth or to detract from it? Does any Fundamentalist doubt the truth conveyed in I John 5:7?

33. Is a person harmful and hurtful to an unstable and unbelieving society because he stands firmly and confidently on a Bible version that does not question its own validity or doubt its own veracity and has stood the test of time, supporting and sustaining persons, families and nations for centuries?

34. Could he possibly be just one more person the world might still consider burning at the stake?

35. Could it be remotely possible that Christians today have been influenced by humanistic, rationalistic philosophy where God is strangely absent, and man is left to arrive at truth the very best way he can?

36. When men begin to doubt God’s Word, has not the devil accomplished his age-old purpose?

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I want you to belong to the true Church: to the Church outside of which there is no salvation. I do not ask where you go on a Sunday: I only ask, "Do you belong to the one true Church?"

Where is this one true Church? What is this one true Church like? What are the marks by which this one true Church may be known? You may well ask such questions. Give me your attention, and I will provide you with some answers.

The one true Church is composed of all believers in the Lord Jesus. It is made up of all God’s elect -- of all converted men and women -- of all true Christians. In whomsoever we can discern the election of God the Father, the sprinkling of the blood of God the Son, the sanctifying work of God the Spirit, in that person we see a member of Christ’s true Church. It is a Church of which all the members have the same marks. They are all born again of the Spirit; they all possess

"repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," and holiness of life and conversation. They all hate sin, and they all love Christ. They worship differently, and after various fashions; some worship with a form of prayer, and some with none; some worship kneeling, and some standing; but they all worship with one heart. They are all led by one Spirit; they all build upon one foundation; they all draw their religion from one single book -- that is the Bible. They are all joined to one great centre -- that is Jesus Christ. They all even now can say with one heart, "Hallelujah;" and they can all respond with one heart and voice, Amen and Amen.

It is a Church which is dependent upon no ministers upon earth, however much it values those who preach the gospel to its members. The life of its members does not hang upon Church-membership, or baptism, or the Lord’s Supper -- although they highly value these things, when they are to be had. But it has only one Great Head – one Shepherd, one chief Bishop—and that is Jesus Christ. He alone, by His Spirit, admits the members of this Church, though ministers may show the door. Till He opens the door no man on earth can open it -- neither bishops, nor presbyters, nor convocations, nor synods. Once let a man repent and believe the gospel, and that moment he becomes a member of this Church. Like the penitent thief, he may have no opportunity of being baptized; but he has that which is far better than any water-baptism -- the baptism of the Spirit. He may not be able to receive the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper; but he eats Christ’s body and drinks Christ’s blood by faith every day he lives, and no minister on earth can prevent him. He may be excommunicated by ordained men, and cut off from the outward ordinances of the professing Church; but all the ordained men in the world cannot shut him out of the true Church.

It is a Church whose existence does not depend on forms, ceremonies, cathedrals, churches, chapels, pulpits, fonts, vestments, organs, endowments, money, kings, governments, magistrates or any act of favor whatsoever from the hand of man. It has often lived on and continued when all these things have been taken from it. It has often been driven into the wilderness, or into dens and caves of the earth, by those who ought to have been its friends. Its existence depends on nothing but the presence of Christ and His Spirit; and they being ever with it, the Church cannot die.

This is the Church to which the scriptural titles of present honor and privilege, and the promises of future glory especially belong; this is the body of Christ; this is the household of faith and the family of God; this is God’s building, God’s foundation, and the temple of the Holy Ghost. This is the Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven; this is the royal priesthood, the chosen generation, the peculiar people, the purchased possession, the habitation of God, the light of the world, the salt and the wheat of the earth; this is the "holy Catholic Church" of the Apostles’ Creed; this is the "One Catholic and Apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed; this is that Church to which the Lord Jesus promises "the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it," and to which He says, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 16:18; 28:20).

This is the only Church which possesses true unity. Its members are entirely agreed on all the weightier matters of religion, for they are all taught by one Spirit. About God, and Christ, and the Spirit, and sin, and their own hearts, and faith, and repentance, and necessity of holiness, and the value of the Bible, and the importance of prayer, and the resurrection, and judgment to come --about all these points they are of one mind. Take three or four of them, strangers to one another, from the remotest corners of the earth; examine them separately on these points: you will find them all of one judgment.

This is the only Church which possesses true sanctity. Its members are all holy. They are not merely holy by profession, holy in name, and holy in the judgment of charity; they are all holy in act, and deed, and reality, and life, and truth. They are all more or less conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. No unholy man belongs to this Church.

This is the only Church which is truly catholic. It is not the Church of any one nation or people: its members are to be found in every part of the world where the gospel is received and believed. It is not confined within the limits of any one country, or pent up within the pale of any particular forms or outward government. In it there is no difference between Jew and Greek, black man and white, Episcopalian and Presbyterian -- but faith in Christ is all. Its members will be gathered from north, and south, and east, and west, and will be of every name and tongue -- but all one in Jesus Christ.

This is the only Church which is truly apostolic. It is built on the foundation laid by the Apostles, and holds the doctrines which they preached. The two grand objects at which its members aim, are apostolic faith and apostolic practice; and they consider the man who talks of following the Apostles without possessing these two things to be no better than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

This is the only Church which is certain to endure unto the end. Nothing can altogether overthrow and destroy it. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, beaten, beheaded, burned; but the true Church is never altogether extinguished; it rises again from its afflictions; it lives on through fire and water; When crushed in one land it springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, the Bloody Marys, have labored in vain to put down this Church; they slay their thousands, and then pass away and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them all, and sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that has broken many a hammer in this world, and will break many a hammer still; it is a bush which is often burning, and yet is not consumed. (Continued)

---- Special thanks to Pastor Charles Alligood of Flowery Branch,

Georgia, for putting The Angelus on his Web Page.

http://www.applied.net/-alligood/angelus.html